In a major development in the Syrian conflict, Russia’s Foreign Ministry has described the actions of the United States in Syria as a military “occupation”.

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, expressed concerns of Moscow over Washington’s actions both in the northeast of the Arab country and in the south in the Al-Tanf region.

“We remain very concerned about the situation in northeastern Syria, where the United States continues to support Kurdish separatism, and in the south of the country, in the Al-Tanf region, where there is in fact an obvious occupation of Syrian sovereign territory by US forces,” Zakharova said.